1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interactive route guide device, and particularly to a route guide device that interactively provides guide information for a user.
2. Background Art
In recent years, the number of vehicles equipped with a navigation system has been increasing. A general navigation system searches for a route for a vehicle from a departure point to a destination point by using digital map data stored in a storage medium such as a CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a hard disc. Then, the navigation system provides guides with respect to a route which is found. While such guides are provided, in accordance with a predetermined fixed rule (hereinafter, referred to as a guide rule), the general navigation system, for example, determines a content of guide information to be provided for guiding the vehicle and/or a timing of providing the guide information, and displays various graphic information on a display screen, and also outputs voice information from a speaker.
One of the navigation systems providing guides as described above is a route guide device described below which is capable of interactively providing guide information (hereinafter, referred to as a conventional route guide device). The conventional route guide device not only unilaterally provides guide information for a user in accordance with the aforementioned fixed guide rule, but also outputs guide information in response to a request from the user. To be specific, the user requests, by manual input and/or voice input, the conventional route guide device to output guide information. In response to the request, the conventional route guide device selects guide information comprising a remaining travel distance to a destination point, a landmark object and a travel direction, and then provides the selected guide information for the user (Refer to, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-254437).
However, it can be considered that there is a tendency for guide information needed by each user to vary to some extent depending on each user's personality. For this reason, there is a problem that a user sometimes cannot obtain, from the conventional route guide device, an appropriate amount of guide information having an appropriate content for the user.
There is also another problem that a user gets annoyed since the conventional route guide device requires the user to operate the device before providing guide information. To be specific, as described above, there is a tendency for guide information needed by each user to vary depending on each user's personality, and the conventional route guide device requires a user to repeatedly operate the device in a same manner in similar situations. For example, if a user tends to request guide information at 100 m before passing an intersection, the user is required to operate the conventional route guide device at 100 m before proceeding into a first intersection, and the user is again required to operate the device at 100 m before proceeding into a next intersection.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an interactive route guide device that is capable of providing, in accordance with a tendency of a user, an appropriate amount of guide information having an appropriate content with an appropriate timing.